The terms, conventions and chromatic vocabulary that underpin every fingerprint and product record. Where the information is historically correct but awaits updating to reflect current practice, that fact is flagged in place.
Data supplied by manufacturers
The information on commercial colorants — and on their manufacturers and suppliers — contained in this publication has been provided by the companies themselves. In providing data for inclusion, the supplier has signed a declaration stating that they have direct access to full test and safety data produced for the product they are selling. The user is advised to contact the supplier for this information and to verify for themselves the position on regulation for the relevant country of import.
Supplier declaration. Every Part 2 entry carries the supplier's own confirmation. The SDC does not independently test commercial products.
Main application
To assist searching, manufacturers indicate the main application areas recommended for their respective products. Fourteen categories cover the majority of registrations.
- Apparel
- Automotive fabrics
- Carpets
- Food
- Furnishings
- Knitwear
- Leather
- Microfibres
- Paint
- Paper & board
- Printing inks
- Swimwear
- Woven fabric
- Other
Uses and comments
A free-text section of each product record where a manufacturer can indicate principal features and uses. It is fully searchable — a wide range of search terms entered here can be expected to produce useful results.
Of the fourteen application areas, one is Other. Common free-text labels adopted by manufacturers within that bucket include:
Adhesive, Aluminium, Aqueous, Artists' colour, Ball pen, Ballpoint, Candle, Cement, Ceramic, Concrete, Cosmetic, Detergent, Drug, Emulsion, Fibre, Fluorescent, Foil, Food, Fuel, Gasoline, Indicator, Lacquer, Leak, Leather, Marker, Metal, Metal complex, Mineral, Oil, Packaging, Paper, Petrol, Pharmaceutical, Polish, Polymer, Polyolefin, Pyrotechnic, Resin, Ribbon, Rubber, Smoke, Soap, Stain, Textile, Toner, Wax, Wood.
Data provided via the Color Pigment Manufacturers' Association (CPMA) is recorded as such on each affected record.
Physical forms of products
Manufacturers are asked to indicate the physical form in which their products are supplied. Eight forms are recognised across dyes and pigments.
- Powder — dry, milled.
- Presscake — filter-pressed wet solid.
- Granule — free-flowing pellets.
- Chip or flake — cut or fractured solid.
- Liquid dispersion — solid suspended in liquid.
- Liquid — soluble or solubilised.
- Paste — high-solids semi-solid.
- Flush colour — pigment flushed into resin or oil.
Product status
Five status values describe the lifecycle of every commercial product record.
| Code | Status | Definition |
|---|---|---|
| VRF | Verified | Confirmed by the manufacturer or supplier as available under a particular C.I. Generic Name for the Colour Index™ Fourth Edition Online. |
| UNC | Unconfirmed | Previously confirmed (usually carried over from the Third Edition); publishers have not yet been able to verify whether the entry remains current. |
| WDR | Withdrawn | The commercial product has been withdrawn from sale by the manufacturer or supplier. |
| ARC | Archived | The manufacturer is no longer in business and the product is no longer available. |
| PND | Pending Authentication | The product has been submitted for inclusion but the registration process is not yet complete. |
Hue indication chart
The most important property of any colourant is its hue on a given substrate. The colourants in each usage section have therefore been subdivided into the hue groups conventionally used in the literature: yellow, orange, red, violet, blue, green, brown and black in that order — with the addition of white and metals to the pigments section.
The commercial name under which a colourant is marketed does not necessarily give a precise indication of its hue. To overcome the resulting inconsistencies and introduce a measure of standardisation, the hue indication chart — a hexagon — gives prominence to the six major divisions of alternate primary and secondary hues, and at the same time provides continuity.
Each sector of the hexagon is divided into three parts — e.g. the yellow sector contains yellow, greenish yellow and reddish yellow. The tertiary hues sit inside the area of the primary and secondary hues, in association with their parent hue. No qualification is made as to whether a hue is dull or bright — that depends on the substrate.
The pigments section adds white and metals to the eight standard hue groups.
Display caveat. Monitor calibration and colour profile will affect the hues rendered above. The chart is an indication, not a measurement — for matching, refer to the printed reference.
CAS and EU (EINECS / ELINCS) numbers
The Colour Index is increasingly used for legislation — particularly in the USA, where CAS numbers are required as cross references. A specific chemical, however, does not always have only one CAS number. In the field of solvent dyes especially, a substance may be found under several different CAS numbers depending on whether it was announced to Chemical Abstracts under its full chemical name, or separately under (say) its C.I. Generic Name.
For example:
- CAS 12226-96-9 refers to C.I. Solvent Yellow 43 (Colour Index Generic Name).
- CAS 19125-99-6 refers to 2-butyl-6-(butylamino)-1H-benz[de]isoquinoline-1,3(2H)-dione — the full chemical name for the same substance.
This proliferation has often come about during the preparation of country-specific chemical inventories, when the full chemical name of certain solvent dyes was — for reasons of business confidentiality — not made available.
The CAS numbers given in this Colour Index are those easily obtained from data banks, or that have been provided to the SDC during the registration process. They do not indicate that the colorant is listed in any particular country's chemical inventory. They are included to aid searches on known inventories.
The absence of an EINECS number should not be interpreted as meaning the substance is not listed in EINECS — and the regulations for ELINCS substances differ from those for EINECS substances.
What the Index contains
At a glance — the scope of Edition 4 Online.
- 27,000 individual products under 13,000 Colour Index™ Generic Names.
- Part 1 — information fully confirmed with manufacturers and suppliers.
- Part 2 — information confirmed or marked as carried over from the previous edition.
- Fingerprints — the unique format that pairs CIGN identity with commercial registrations.
- Structures — chemical structures depicted according to recent research on molecular conformation.
Who reads it
The Colour Index is the working reference for:
- Colourant users, manufacturers and suppliers.
- Textile manufacturers and suppliers.
- Paint manufacturers and suppliers.
- Plastics manufacturers and suppliers.
- Printing-ink manufacturers and suppliers.
- Test houses.
- Libraries and regulatory authorities.
- Academic institutions.
Subscriptions
We offer individual, company and university-based subscriptions. Companies benefit from reduced per-user pricing; universities receive significant discounts as part of the charitable activities of the SDC — to help students, researchers and anyone involved in the education of colour. See subscription options for details, or read about the Society of Dyers and Colourists and our partnership with AATCC, the world's leading not-for-profit association serving textile professionals.